Jersey Devil - Coltar - Fifth Hour

The Jersey Devil is a mythical creature said to have haunted the Pine Barrens of New Jersey for the past 260 years. The most popular legend of how the Jersey Devil came to be was from a mother in Leeds Point, NJ. Ms. Shrouds said that if she ever had another child she wanted it to be a devil. Her nest child ironically was misshapen and deformed. She kept the deformed child hidden from people to avoid publicity. The supposed creature is said to have horns on its horse like head, a long neck, a dog like body with small arms with claws, a tail, and long legs with hoof like feet. I am researching credible and non credible information on this subject to better convey that I do not consider this particular mythical creature to exist in reality.

Some of the information that I found on this subject that I find credible is the accuracy that all the stories share. 99 percent of all the stories from different sites are extremely close to each other. Another fact is the time period in which all this took place. First off, all the stories share the name “Leeds” or “Shrouds”. This could be from the birthplace Leeds Point or the last name of “Shrouds”; the stories tell it both ways but share the name nonetheless. Alfred Heston, an Atlantic County Historian, discovered that Daniel Leeds bought land in Great Egg Harbor in 1699. This means nothing of course, but he also discovered that Samuel Shrouds Sr. moved to Little Egg Harbor in 1735 and lived right across the river from the Leeds’ house. Another factor that makes this legend more believable is that it is very similar to the Burlington Legend. Professor Fred Macfadden, of Coppin State College, found that a “devil” was mentioned in writings from Burlington as early as 1735, the same year that Samuel Shrouds moved to the area. Burlington also refers to the area from Burlington all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. It is very likely that the Jersey Devil and the Burlington Legend are the same thing.

Some legends of the Jersey Devil seem to be down right impossible. One version of the legend of the Jersey Devil says that the mother that gave birth to the creature was a witch, and that is why the child came out as a demon. Some other legends say that the mother was not very popular because of her promiscuity and therefore branded a witch, and her resulting child was directly linked to the devil and witchcraft. The Jersey Devil supposedly had a normal birth, and looked like a normal child, but within minutes after being born changed shape into a grotesque creature and mauled his mother before climbing up the chimney and flying away. The Jersey Devil lived on small children and fair maidens, one legend proposes.

In accordance with all the legends about the Jersey Devil and how it came to existence, I can deduct that the Jersey Devil is just a fictional character of folklore. The information about this cryptid goes against the laws of reality and nature. It is not even plausible that this demon could exist.

References

Title: Jersey Devil image (fig. 1) Date Retrieved: April 6, 2009 Site: whoyoucallingaskeptic.wordpress.com
Title: The Jersey Devil Date Retrieved: April 6, 2009 Site: theshadowlands.net/jd.htm
Title: The Jersey Devil (Fact or Fiction) Date Retrieved: April 7, 2009 Site: www.elktwnship.com/myth.html
Title: The Mystery of the Jersey Devil Date Retrieved: April 7, 2009 Site: www.prairieghosts.com/jerseydevil.html
Title: The Jersey Devil Date Retrieved: April 8, 2009 Site: www.strangemag.com/jerseydevil1.html
Title: Birth of the Jersey Devil: A New Jersey Legend from American Folklore Date Retrieved: April 8, 2009 Site:
www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/nj.html
Title: The Jersey Devil Legend Date Retrieved: April 8, 2009 Site: www.thefixsite.com/jerseydevil/jdlegend.html